Day: February 6, 2023

Blogging Insights — Prompt Me

Fandango12 Comments

It’s Monday and Dr. Tanya is back with her weekly Blogging Insights prompt. Today Dr. Tanya wants to know how we feel about writing prompts. She asks…

How do writing prompts affect your creativity? Do they expand it, or do they restrict it?

I think writing prompts are a great way to stimulate creativity. You’re given a word and/or an image and asked to create a story or a poem around the prompt. The prompt word or image sets off your imagination to create whatever your mind sees or conjures up. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of taking multiple daily prompt words and weaving together a story that flows nicely and doesn’t sound forced, and I’m hoping to get into that once this torpor that I’m in passes.

Some people don’t like prompts with word limits because they believe that such limits stifle creativity. But as someone who appreciates brevity, I don’t mind them. I like the challenge of crafting a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end within a specific word limitation.

Can they be considered ‘real’ or ‘true’ writing?

Of course they are considered to be real and true writing. I would posit that all writing, not just blogging, but almost any writing, is triggered by prompts of one sort or another, whether current or historical events, dreams, something that was seen, heard, read, or personally experienced.

What is your favorite kind of prompt?

Any port in a storm; any prompt that triggers one’s imagination.

WDP — Death

Fandango21 Comments

How does death change your perspective?

Because I’m all about me, I’m responding to this question from my personal perspective on death, not how the death of someone else might change my perspective.

Death does not change my perspective. I’ve always accepted that everyone’s life ends with death and that acceptance of the inevitability of death has not, and will not, change. That’s just the way it is, folks. Deal with it.

But I will admit that age has changed my perspective on death. As a septuagenarian, I realize that I have maybe as few as five or as many as twenty years left before the grim reaper pays me a visit. I’m not afraid of death. I’ve accepted its eventuality. My only hope is that when that time comes, I will go peacefully into the night while sleeping.

Unlike most people, though, I believe that death is not just the end of physical life, it’s the end of everything. Period. There is no “afterlife.” You won’t be shipped off to some fire and brimstone hell for all eternity if you misbehaved while you were still among the living. You won’t ascend into the clouds to play a harp and frolic with the winged angels if you led a relatively sin-free life. You won’t be reunited with deceased family members. You won’t be reincarnated into a new life form, human or otherwise. You will be dead. You will cease to exist. Sayonara, baby.

That is my perspective on death. And my advice to everyone is to accept death’s inevitability and, most important, don’t fear the reaper.

Spam Comment of the Week — Week 5 2023

Fandango17 Comments

I get some interesting spam comments on my blog, most of which are captured by Akismet, WordPress’ spam blocker. I generally do a mass delete of all of my spam comments after checking to see if any legitimate comments got caught up in Akismet’s spam-catching net.

I thought it might be fun to select a particularly interesting or unique or outrageous spam comment and highlight it each week.

This week’s featured spam comment was from Lavern Frisina and was in response to my “FOWC With Fandango — Mollify” post.

Hі there, I discovered your websіte by way of Google even as looking for a related topic, your wеbsitｅ got here up, it appears good.

I have bookmarкed it іn my google bookmarҝs.

Hi there, just become alert to your weƅlog thru Ԍοogle, and found that it’s truⅼy informative.
I’m gonnа be careful for brussels. I will apρreciate in cаse you proceed this in future.
A lot of folks will lіkely be benefited from your writing.
Cheeｒs!

I think Lavern got distracted in the middle of posting her comment because she seems to start over after telling me that she bookmarked my blog. In part two of her comment, she wisely says she’s going to be “careful for brussels.” The city? The sprouts? I’m not sure what that declaration had to do with my post, but I am happy to learn that a lot of people “will likely be benefited” from my writing. Hey, isn’t this what it’s all about?

Anyway, have you read some catchy spam comments that you’d like to share with us? If so, put them in the comments or create your own post and tag it #FSCW.

Torpor

Fandango14 Comments

I have this app on my iPhone, Word of the Day, and I get some of my FOWC With Fandango Daily prompts from that app. Yesterday’s word was “Torpor,” a word I’d never heard of.

Torpor is a noun meaning “the state of not being active and having no energy or enthusiasm.”

And even though the word is new to me, its meaning — and the feeling — is not. It pretty much describes my frame of mind since I busted my hip three weeks ago.

I’m inactive because my ability to be active has been significantly hindered. I spend my days slowly walking around my house using my walker because I can’t walk at all without it. I’m doing my assigned physical and occupational therapy exercises, eating, and napping. And yet, that is taking a lot out of me.

I can’t say I’ve lost my enthusiasm for blogging, but I have lost the energy it takes to keep up the pace I was at before my hip fracture, to participate in all of the daily and most of the weekly prompts I used to. And until I can get through this torpor phase I’m stuck in, I just don’t have the energy to read your posts, either.

I’m really sorry about that.

FOWC with Fandango — Plus

Fandango20 Comments
FOWC

It’s February 6, 2023. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “plus.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.